Multiple surfaces are found at construction job sites and commercial and industrial buildings that require maintenance by workers on a frequent basis. Such maintenance entails workers scraping these surfaces. Some examples are: flooring contractors using scrapers to remove glue, adhesive, paint, etc. from stone, wood, metal, concrete and glass surfaces; janitors, maintenance men and other workers using scrapers to remove gum or garbage from floors in malls, large or small business facilities and airports; and home owners and do-it-yourself (DIY) handymen using scrapers to remove many different materials from a range of different surfaces, such as grease from cook stove tops, dirt and dust from household window panes, and ice from vehicle windshields.
One prior art standard floor scraper 300 is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 herein. The prior art scraper 300 includes an elongated handle 302, a hand grip 304 attached to a rear end portion of the handle and a scraper head 306 attached to a front end portion of the handle. The scraper head 306 incorporates lower and upper jaw members 308, 310. The lower jaw member 308 is a part of the scraper head 306 that is affixed to the front end portion of the handle 302. The lower jaw member 308 has a forward and upward opening recess 312 of dimensions to receive both the upper jaw member 310 and a planar scraper blade 314. The upper jaw member 310 is the part of the scraper head 306 that is removably attachable upon the lower jaw member 308 so as to releasably clamp and secure the scraper blade 314 between them within the recess 312 of the lower jaw member 308. Also, the lower jaw member 308 has a plurality of threaded holes 316 located within the recess 312 of the lower jaw member 30 and formed in a laterally spaced apart relationship from one another. The upper jaw member 310 has a like plurality of threadless holes 318 aligned with the threaded holes 316 of the lower jaw member 308. A like plurality of screws 320 may be inserted through the threadless holes 318 in the upper jaw member 310 and fastened into the threaded holes 316 in the lower jaw member 308 so as to clamp and secure the scraper blade 314 between them with a front edge 314a of the scraper blade 314 projecting forwardly from the lower and upper jaw members 308, 310 of the scraper head 306 so as to expose the front edge 314a in order that it is able to contact a surface for scraping.
This standard floor scraper embodies several shortcomings. An example of a shortcoming faced with a standard floor scraper is that a separate tool, such as a screwdriver, is required for changing the scraper blade in view that Phillips or flat head screws are most commonly used to clamp the blade. These screws tend to strip out or break, which then requires the user to extract the broken screws and replace them with new ones. Furthermore, screws don't always stay tight and that oftentimes results in over tightening the screws which can eventually result in damage to the threaded holes in the lower jaw. Apart from the shortcomings offered by the usage of screws the standard floor scraper has a small recess area therebetween the upper and lower portion of the jaw, wherein the scraper blade rests. Because of such a small recess area, all too often, the blade resting therebetween the upper and lower portion of the jaw slips inward, thereby neutralizing the functionality of the scraper.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for an innovation that overcomes the deficiencies of past approaches and the problems that remain unsolved with respect to scraping and cleaning multiple surfaces.